Heretofore, it has been known to provide an electrostatic energy transfer apparatus as particularly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,839, owned by the assignee of this application, wherein the apparatus includes a frame supporting a plurality of probes in the form of a probe strip having a plurality of spaced apart points and grid wires symmetrically arranged to the points. The probe strips and points are vertically arranged and facing downwardly thereby focusing the electrostatic field vertically, and a source of high voltage low amperage direct current is directed across the probe strip and grid wires to produce the transfer of energy toward the target. This patent also discloses the mounting of the probe strips and the grid wires to the frame so as to permit independent expansion and contraction. Because the probe strips are vertically arranged, and it is necessary to space the grid wires from the points such as to preclude arcing between the grid wires and the points, the vertical height of the unit is dictated by these parameters. It is also necessary to appropriately space apart horizontally the probe strips in order to avoid interference with the action of one strip with another. Because the probe strips are vertically extending, the coverage for the strip relative to a target is somewhat narrow.
With respect to use of the heretofore known electrostatic energy transfer apparatus in an oven for cooking foods, it has been found that during a time when the foods are not moving beneath the apparatus, concentrated energy from the probe strips produces striping of the food product.